Colon superintendent sees district as 'fit for 21st century'

Tuesday

Aug 26, 2014 at 9:00 PM

Perhaps the first thing most Colon residents want to know about their new superintendent is how to pronounce his last name.

By Jef RietsmaJournal correspondent

Perhaps the first thing most Colon residents want to know about their new superintendent is how to pronounce his last name.Vic Bugni is of Italian descent and is happy to clarify that his surname is pronounced BOOG-ney.The second matter of business the district’s residents have made clear is the hope that Bugni will work tirelessly to bring back in-district students who are attending schools elsewhere in an effort to help stabilize the district’s free-falling enrollment rate. Attracting out-of-district students as school-of-choice pupils would be even better.

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Bugni, a Saginaw native, said he knows courting families and their children to Colon Community Schools is a high priority. He acknowledged that the district has made great strides in recent years and has turned the corner in terms of being a modern, high-tech place of education thanks to a $15 million technology and building upgrade districtwide.“I have to say I appreciate the work that has gone into the facilities here in Colon, and it is definitely fit for the 21st century,” Bugni said. “The positive steps taken here are clear, we are a one-to-one district with Chromebooks and iPads, for example, and I’m not afraid to promote Colon as the leading district in the area.”Bugni’s awareness of Colon Community Schools and the potential it offers students in neighboring districts — primarily Bronson, Union City, Mendon and Centreville — is an attribute that helped him land the job of superintendent last spring.After a thorough search, members of the Colon Community Schools Board of Education selected the 37-year-old Bugni as the top administrator at the 633-student district.He and Jean Logan in Three Rivers are starting their first year as superintendents. Colon was overseen by Jay Newman for the 2013-14 academic year following the August 2013 retirement of Lloyd Kirby.With the retirement of Roger Rathburn from Three Rivers and White Pigeon’s Ron Drzewicki moving on to serve as superintendent of Mason Public Schools, Bugni is the youngest of the county’s eight superintendents who oversee its nine school districts. He had previously served as curriculum and instruction supervisor for the Delta/Schoolcraft Intermediate School District in the Upper Peninsula since October 2011.Bugni, who started June 16 and has worked closely with Newman in subsequent weeks, said the similarities between his previous job and its rural location are not too much of a stretch from what he does now and where he’s doing it.“I was general-education director, curriculum/instruction director, and director of a math and science center for Delta and Schoolcraft counties that was comprised of nine school districts,” he said. “So, I was involved in a lot of administrative work and it was, obviously, a rural environment.”In all honesty, Bugni confessed, he’s looking forward to staying in one spot and being in charge of just one school district.Bugni, who is single and lives just outside the village, said it didn’t take long to get used to living in Colon. As he experienced during his stays in town during the interview process last spring, Bugni said he appreciates the friendly demeanor of the townsfolk and people he has met through school.“What I noticed when I came down for the interview and after I moved here was whether I was walking along the sidewalk or driving through town, people would wave,” he said. “It was a warm and welcoming feeling, and I am excited to be a part of the community.”His affinity toward the community only strengthened after experiencing MagiCelebration in July and Abbott’s Magic Get-Together earlier this month. A graduate of Hemlock High School, Bugni previously served as a math and science teacher at Traverse City West High School for seven years after a three-year teaching stint at Arenac Eastern High School.His salary for the 2014-15 school year is $97,000.